


Four Ways To Seduce a Siren

by Xekstrin



Series: Counting Popstars [2]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - K/DA (League of Legends), F/F, Human/Monster Romance, This story should just be called Evelynn Acts Like An Asshole For 12k Words, WELCOME TO THE POLYCULE SERAPHINE ENJOY YOUR STAY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:08:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xekstrin/pseuds/Xekstrin
Summary: After the events of "Three Ways To Skin a Fox," all the messy miscommunications are over. With POP/STARS under their belt and MORE on the way, everything is perfect in paradise for our favorite disaster monster girlfriend popstars.Except Evelynn might not be as open and honest as she pretends she is. In fact, she might be going through a midlife crisis, and she can't understand why everyone is fawning over their newest collaborator, Seraphine.If the new girl stares at her with those big blue eyes a second longer she's pretty sure she's going to snap—  or worse, fall in love.
Relationships: Ahri/Akali (League of Legends), Ahri/Akali/Evelynn/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Ahri/Evelynn (League of Legends), Ahri/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Akali/Evelynn (League of Legends), Akali/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Evelynn/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Evelynn/Seraphine (League of Legends)
Series: Counting Popstars [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042539
Comments: 72
Kudos: 291





	Four Ways To Seduce a Siren

An incoming text message pinged. Overhead, stripes of light stroked over her, warm and yellow fluttering aposematism on her skin. Underneath her, she felt the long, subtle purr of the engine, so in tune with her body that she knew it needed to be serviced before the red light blinked on the dash. The Mustang stretched out like the tips of her claws; not a part of her, but close enough that there was hardly any difference between flesh and metal. 

With the end of the tunnel in sight she finally had a signal, and she tapped the phone to let it read the message out loud.

"Gonna say hi to the new girl?" the automated voice said, notifying her that it was from Ahri. "We'd like to greet her as a group, but no pressure if you're busy."

Evelynn told the phone to let Ahri know she was on her way, and accelerated. 

Breaking a few laws along the way, Evelynn arrived home in the next five minutes. Above her, the moon was a silver sickle, thin and sharp like the curve of her smile as she slipped out of her body and into the night. She seeped through the car's metal joints, under the doorway, and ventured into the house. Thin and snakelike, she traced the hallways, left her claw marks down at ankle-height where Ahri would never spot them and complain about them. Affectionate, but still an instinctive act of claiming territory. 

When Ahri first suggested they all live together, Evelynn had scoffed. She was independently wealthy even before that smashing initial success with POP/STARS, and it felt so... humanly clingy. If Akali and Kai'sa wanted her attention they could ask for it. Living together might make them think they were entitled to having it whenever they wanted.

That's what she had said.

Materializing in Ahri's room, she found Akali by the pure shine of her soul. She hummed like neon, like white paint in blacklight. Evelynn's arms formed first, wrapping around Akali's slender shoulders, and then her mouth to press a kiss to her cheek, and then the rest of her body for that sheer, raw, utter, debased pleasure of feeling herself pushed tight to Akali like a second set of clothes.

"Hey baby," Akali said, not looking away from the computer monitor. "Glad you could make it."

"You're impossible to surprise," Evelynn whispered into her ear. "One of these days I'm going to taste your fear, Kali. And I can't wait to see how good it feels."

Kai'sa cleared her throat, loud, drawing Evelynn out of her own private world. "The meeting is in three minutes. Do we want to go over the rules again?"

Swiveling around in her chair, Ahri started. "First off, we want to maintain our current facade. We—"

Akali interrupted with the TLDR. "Don't be freaks. Tuck your shit away and don't scare the new girl."

One by one, they pulled up their human skins. It wasn't that unusual; they had worked with normie musicians before. And of course existing in public took a certain amount of masquerading. Ahri's ears folded into her hair; Kai'sa's second skin retreated, and three sets of glowing eyes went dim.

"Oh my god," Ahri exclaimed, waving a hand in front of her face. "Akali, it's so dark in here! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I've got good night vision for a human." Akali smiled as she said it, but Ahri still turned on all the lights. 

Turning to Evelynn, Ahri looked at her disapprovingly. Other than her lashers, Evelynn had changed hardly anything about her appearance. If one were feeling generous one might describe her eyes as amber brown, but...

"What?" Evelynn said, smiling with her dainty fangs still on display. She'd met humans with much more ferocious incisors than hers, and felt no need to hide them, either. "Webcams rarely catch the truth."

"Behave," Kai'sa warned her, once, before it was time. 

Flickering, Seraphine's face came into view. It was the first time Evelynn had seen her in motion. Still images and audio posts were more Seraphine's style. Her vital energy bounced and sparkled, though obviously not to the same extent as Akali's did. Measuring her in an instant, Evelynn casually dismissed her and mentally checked out of the conversation.

"Hello? Can you see me? Oh!" Seraphine said, waving eagerly. She giggled, nervous, eyes dropping down. "How do I start this? Hello, KDA?"

The four of them gave various responses out of sync, waving and smiling. Well, all smiling except Evelynn, who lingered behind everyone else, content to observe. This little girl had an impressive vocal range and there was a spark, a hint of glitter on her, that drew Evelynn's attention. She hadn't quite known what to do with it, and so had volleyed her along to Ahri. Ahri always had a plan for everything. As much as Evelynn valued her independence, she knew that she had a habit of floating aimlessly without someone like Ahri to guide her.

For all intents and purposes Seraphine was a gift for Ahri; as long as she knew her place and caused no problems, Evelynn didn't really care what Seraphine did.

"It's super late over there so I won't take up too much of your time," Seraphine started. "Thanks so much for meeting with me!"

"The pleasure is all ours." Calm and self-assured as ever, Ahri smoothly took charge of the talk from there. They went over their plans to collaborate, any questions Seraphine had, and about KDA's plan to relocate to Los Angeles temporarily. The band had intended on heading out there regardless for unrelated PR reasons. The fact that they'd be able to work with Seraphine in person was a 'fun' bonus.

"Get ready to work your butt off as soon as we arrive." The amused, low lilt of Ahri's voice made Evelynn think that her tails would be waving, if she had them out.

Seraphine visibly swallowed, but otherwise kept cool. "I won't let you down. And Ahri— thank you. Thanks again. For all of this."

When the call was over, Evelynn took a moment to check their itineraries. If all went according to plan, they'd be in and out of Los Angeles by the end of the week. Then she could get back to doing what she did best: making music, prowling Seoul late at night, and causing general chaos and mayhem for the three women who loved her. 

Two of those women visibly relaxed when there were no more cameras on them, exchanging concerned glances. 

"...Did you feel that?" Kai'sa said, quietly, and Ahri nodded.

"Feel what?" Akali asked, and Evelynn silently echoed the question. 

The other two took a second to respond. Purring and vibrating, Kai'sa's second skin hovered unusually tight to her shoulders. It did that when she felt threatened, yet Evelynn hadn't sensed anything dangerous about Seraphine. 

Akali had been comfortably slouched, one hand on her belt in that effortlessly cool, vaguely masc way she had. But confusion made her casual, cocky stance straighten as no answer was forthcoming. She looked between the other two, asking again, "What? Feel what?"

"Remember that haunted hotel we stayed in, in Mexico?" Kai'sa said. "And my second skin wouldn't behave?"

"Yes," Ahri said, nervously clicking her nails together. "Yes, that— yes. Exactly that. I felt haunted for a second."

It took another moment for Akali to put it together. "By Seraphine? What, is she a ghost that makes music?" Then as she thought on that, she added, "That would be sick, actually." 

"It's probably nothing," Ahri decided, but not until she had another moment to digest her own feelings. She held her tail, slowly stroking it until the fur sat down. "Or Seraphine might be special, like Kai'sa."

Finally speaking up, Evelynn decided she was going to put this to bed if no one else would. "If she's anything but human, we'll know when we meet her. Until then it's only speculation."

Ahri agreed uncertainly, stroking her tail again. The various glamours and hiding spells they used to keep their identity secret from the public rarely worked on the supernatural— and with the glaring exception of Akali, no normal human had ever been able to see past it, not even in recordings. So if this odd feeling meant anything at all, an in-person meeting would swiftly settle it.

With that, Evelynn let it drop from the forefront of her mind.

* * *

The first time they heard Seraphine sing live, Ahri reached over and held Evelynn's hand so tight her claws pierced skin. She didn't know what to make of that. Their meet-and-greet had been so uneventful— disappointing, really. Whatever heat Seraphine imbued into her songs and picture, it didn't translate to reality. 

Seraphine was dull, to be frank. She blended into the background, and when Evelynn's eyes lost focus she could lose sight of Seraphine entirely.

The others didn't feel the same, instantly besotted. Akali especially so; ever since they'd walked in, she'd kept an arm around Seraphine's shoulder like they were old friends.

And Ahri. Ahri so rarely needed comforting, especially in public. She had that perfect image to maintain, after all. 

It had all been normal, if high-energy, before that. Ahri had done most of the talking, until it became time to record. A significant chunk of the pre-production had been conducted online and through emails. Now all that was left was the hard, grueling work of making music.

"How'd I do?" Seraphine asked, still in the booth and beaming at them.

"Perfect," Ahri said. Her eyes were narrow slits, focused and jumpy, twitching to track Seraphine's every little move. If Seraphine had been able to see them, _really_ see the predator staring her down, she would have been nervous. It wasn't the kind of thing that inspired a huge amount of confidence, and not the kind of thing that made humans feel safe.

For her part, Evelynn gave up trying to get inside Seraphine's head. 

Every time she tried, all she could hear was... nothing. 

"It was fine," Evelynn said.

Normally when someone was such a blank slate, it meant they were boring and creatively dead. Or on a level of zen only Buddhist masters could hope to achieve. But that didn't seem to match the spark she'd seen of Seraphine in her youtube videos. There was _something_ humming in that skull for certain, even if it were set at a frequency Evelynn couldn't hear. 

_Or maybe the deception goes that deep?_ Evelynn wondered, staring at the human woman from behind dark shades. _It's easy to pretend to be anything online._

When she came outside the booth to chatter more about direction, Evelynn spoke up.

"Seraphine."

She twitched when Evelynn said her name, hands flying together at the waist. Seraphine wrung her wrists. "Yes?"

Because that stupid little head of hers was so frustratingly blank, Evelynn had to pay extra close attention to her facial cues to get a sense of what Seraphine might be feeling. It wasn't fun. Evelynn never felt more like a sharp-toothed thing than when she was stuck in the same room as their new collaborator. Her attention swung from Seraphine to the mic, hawkish. "Are you giving us everything you have in there?"

"Did I do something wrong?" Seraphine pointed back at the booth. "I can do another take if you need."

"I didn't say that."

"So what are you saying, then?" Pink eyebrows tweaked inward. Absent-minded, Seraphine rubbed at the little star plastered to her cheek. "Sorry if I'm asking a bunch of obvious questions, I just want to make sure we're on the same page." Seraphine grinned suddenly. "And if it means we get to understand each other better, I'm not afraid to look dumb."

Clearly. 

"Just because nothing is wrong doesn't mean it can't be better." Stepping forward, Evelynn's claws slinked out to toy with one of Seraphine's gaudy, dangling earrings. "Go for the jugular when you're with us. At this point in the game, holding back makes you look weak, not humble. Understand?"

"I think so. I'll do my best," Seraphine said, and while her voice sounded helpful and accommodating, her mind stubbornly resisted giving anything over to Evelynn. Even now Evelynn felt she was holding something back. There was something valuable deep in Seraphine, she knew, but Evelynn wasn't sure she had the patience to unearth it. 

* * *

"Great job, kid," Akali said when they wrapped up for the day. She extended her fist, bumping it to Seraphine's and prompting a wide smile to spread across her face. "You got a ride home?"

"I Uber'd here," Seraphine said, checking her phone to bring up the app. Then she smiled again, this time reassuring. "You don't need to worry about me."

Kai'sa reached out to lower Seraphine's hand and said in a voice that brooked no argument, "Absolutely not. Kali, be a good girl and escort her."

Fingers hooked in her belt again. A warm huff of laugh escaped her lips, attempting to be offended and only managing fondness. "All right, all right. You don't gotta bust out the heavy artillery."

Pretending to look at her phone, Evelynn's typing fingers slowed as Akali shrugged out of her jacket. They stopped when Akali wrapped it around Seraphine's shoulders, and then when Akali zipped her up, Evelynn's thumb pressed to the glass so hard it cracked.

"We'll take my bike," Akali said. "Ever ride a motorcycle before?"

Seraphine took longer than she needed to respond, in Evelynn's opinion. "Oh. Uh, no, never."

"Great! You're in for a treat." Akali threw her arm over Seraphine and guided her out the door. Their voices receded. "It's super fun. Like a private roller coaster."

"I like rollercoasters," Seraphine's voice was faint and growing fainter until the door clicked shut and she could hear nothing at all. 

Evelynn didn't get any time to decide what to do next. The moment they were gone, several warm, grasping limbs snaked over her thighs, encircling her. Yanking Evelynn tight so that they were hip to hip, Ahri's golden eyes were molten from under her thick, black eyelashes. 

"Kai'sa?" Ahri said, voice directed elsewhere even as she arrested Evelynn with a heavy stare. She reached up, coiling a strand of silver hair around one finger. "You were going to stay here and work a while longer, right?"

Distracted by the laptop balanced on her forearm, Kai'sa agreed. "Yeah, I'm—" she stopped when she spotted them, intimately linked. "Oh. I _see_. Yeah, I'm not getting in the middle of that. You kids have fun and try not to break the house."

Restless, the tails not grabbing Evelynn whipped to and fro until she forgot why she had been in a sour mood at all. "No promises, bokkie." 

So the two of them were alone when they reached the penthouse. Ahri held onto Evelynn's hand again, maneuvering her to Ahri's room. She went willingly, feeling the arousal that had been building in Ahri all day. It was pink and glittery and warm and so soft, like her. 

Being the resident service top for K/DA meant she was fine with being used occasionally. Everyone had needs; Evelynn had needs. Dark needs. The others understood, kept her well-fed. Rather than becoming boring, she found the complexity and depths of her women's agonies only grew more layered over time. Every so often Evelynn strayed, but it was rarely satisfying.

Kissing her, Ahri pulled Evelynn into bed. The lust in her spiked, loud enough that Evelynn felt it in her own body. She gripped Ahri's head, frowning when she felt resistance. 

_Let me in,_ she whispered around her, inside her. _Let me in._

"Are you feeling well?" Evelynn asked out loud, somewhat surprised. "You're acting like you're in heat."

Too impatient for conversation, Ahri raked her claws down her own arms to quiet Evelynn down. Soothed like a child by the bottle, Evelynn bent her head down and lapped at the shallow cuts, sucking them clean until Ahri squirmed.

She scooted down, shoving up Evelynn's skirt. Pushing her face between Evelynn's legs, she inhaled deep, tail whipping harder.

The frustrating thing about Ahri, beyond the way she tried to project perfection at all times, was how she held every thought closely guarded. More than once Akali had lain in bed with Evelynn, talking quietly into the night about anything and everything. They didn't fuck and didn't even kiss, they just talked. In contrast, once Ahri was done with her, she was content to lay there in darkness and silence. That could be good sometimes. But tonight Evelynn really wanted to know what was on her mind. She knew she would get her way eventually. Ahri was the only person in the world who could keep Evelynn out, and not even she could maintain it for long.

Evelynn stroked a hand through soft blonde hair, smiling when Ahri cuddled closer. Once she relaxed, Ahri let some more of her thoughts leak, and Evelynn casually strolled through them all. Again she was surprised, spotting one image over and over. Over and over, repeating in Ahri's head in 4/4 meter, she saw Seraphine's face.

"The new girl." Evelynn said after a while. "That's cute. I thought you didn't go for humans."

No wonder Ahri needed quick release.

Ahri's tail thumped once against the mattress. She huffed. "I make it a point _not_ to."

"I think Kai'sa and Akali would disagree."

"Well." Ahri wrapped both arms around Evelynn, resting her head on the crook of her neck. "They turned out more stubborn than expected."

After that, Evelynn suspected she would be able to focus.

Except it didn't work that way. More often than not Akali, Seraphine, and Kai'sa would hang around after work while Ahri found some way to sate her increasingly sharp hungers. They were painful to bear. Unlike most aches and scrapes, Evelynn couldn't siphon this particular emotional turmoil away. So Ahri's constant smoldering left her on edge too. 

The best she could do was beat it out of her, focusing all that pain to the surface of Ahri's skin to give her something else to focus on other than how much she wanted Seraphine.

"I haven't felt you this wrecked since you started dating Akali," Evelynn noted, darkly amused, and Ahri did not take that well at all.

"Don't start." Only Ahri could manage to sound so imperious with her ass in the air, legs and arms bound and her tail linked to the ropes around her chest. She was forced to present herself like an offering, her asshole relaxing and loosening under Evelynn's thumb.

Stripes of purple, black, green, and blue. Ahri's skin took beautifully to a caning. Evelynn smoothed her palms over the wealth of bruises on Ahri's thighs before digging her metal claws in. "Shhhh."

The truly miraculous thing was that no one else had a clue. 

Thoroughly fucked out and wrung into something sensible, Ahri kept a clear head throughout all their recording and jam sessions. The album progressed at breakneck speed with no one the wiser. Especially Seraphine, who never so much as flinched when Ahri took her hand to shake it, or casually touched her shoulder.

Evelynn could feel it, though.

And one week in Los Angeles turned into two. And then three. That wasn't so bad, really, because there was no end to the amount of mischief she could get into in a brand new city, and Evelynn tried not to notice how attached everyone had become to Seraphine seemingly overnight. She got a text late one evening when she was out on a date with Akali. The group chat pinged, and both she and her girlfriend checked to see what the others were up to. 

**Kai'sa:** is it okay if Seraphine sleeps in the guest bedroom? Ahri and I are having a pajama party :)

 **Eve:** You're a grown up, you don't need permission for a sleepover.

 **Ahri:** we live together we have to at least warn you if there's gonna be a stranger in the house

 **Akali:** sera's not a stranger! she's our little star!

The other two responded with a row of sparkling hearts, and Akali pocketed her phone with a smile. Outside it was getting dark and the real stars were covered by a fine layer of light pollution. Evelynn had been alive long enough to see all the dark places in the world slowly exposed to the light and stripped away; she adapted by becoming brighter herself, hiding in plain sight. No longer feeding from strangers but from her friends, her partners, her girlfriend.

Seated across Evelynn at the outdoor picnic table, Akali dug into dessert. A matcha parfait, with layers of sweet red bean paste and green tea sponge cake, topped with two green tea pocky sticks. They'd ordered their meal to-go so that nobody would think it strange that only one person at the table was eating. Content to watch her, Evelynn enjoyed the rare silence between them before Akali made a startled noise.

"Oh, sorry Eve, I didn't even ask. Are you hungry too?" Akali patted her back pocket before pulling out an almost definitely illegal switchblade. 

"...Why do you have a knife?" 

Akali just gave her a _duh_ look before pressing the tip to her thumb. The blade dented calloused skin; Akali was waiting on her to push it all the way in. So Evelynn shook her head, reaching out with one lasher to close the knife and put it away. 

"You're very sweet." Evelynn caressed her lasher over Akali's hip, grazing her forearm before retreating again into nothingness. She wasn't worried about accidentally cutting Akali. She controlled how sharp or how dull the lasher's edge; useful for when you wanted to prolong torment rather than kill quickly and silently. Not that she'd needed to kill anyone in a while. "Please don't do that."

Spinning her spoon, Akali rested her cheek on one palm and studied Evelynn. 

"If you say you're not hungry then you're not hungry," she said at last. She scraped the last of her parfait into her mouth, and Evelynn took one of the pocky sticks to nibble on.

"What?" Evelynn said when Akali smirked at her. "I like matcha."

She liked a lot of the same things Akali liked, though she rarely admitted it out loud. Their differences swerved wildly, and openly. From the outside they should have meshed like oil and water. But Akali was adaptable like her. She was tough like her. Akali had to survive hard, lean times like her. Akali was a gateway to a world Evelynn suspected had long outgrown her kind. Yet here was proof some parts of it still had a place for her. 

On top of that, the intensity of their physical attraction to each other and the fire Akali kindled in her was rare.

Evelynn snapped her up as soon as she could for all those reasons, but truth be told she loved Akali for the calm she brought. When Evelynn saw her face she saw Akali thirty, forty, fifty years from now. How wonderful would that be, how beautiful that would be, how special that would be, how privileged would she be to see that, to share that? She thought of Akali on her deathbed while Evelynn lay next to her, still young and beautiful. 

_Hold you forever, hold you forever._

When she feels the last embers of her life fading away, would Akali let her deal the final stroke, and let her be the one to stop her heart with a blade inside her chest?

_You don't know, Akali, how deep the want goes, how hard the edge of my love. You'll never know, I'll never let you see._

Evelynn blinked slowly, dispelling the idea for now. 

_Keep it in your pants,_ she chided herself. 

Once Akali was finished, she immediately started chattering, and Evelynn enjoyed the way her voice went like the pattern of silver coins on a drum, shining and bouncing and vibrating in a steady rattle.

"Did I show you what Senna sent me this morning?" she asked, opening her phone again. "She and her husband are on vacation, but she's been working so hard for so long she has no idea how to relax."

"Sounds like someone I know," Evelynn said. 

"I'm plenty chill," Akali said. "You're the one who turned our date into work."

It was true. As the night went on, they found themselves inside a stark white gallery near Santa Monica beach. 

Marble and steel sculptures surrounded them, and while Evelynn carefully examined them all, Akali indulged in free cheap wine and finger food and declared that they should go to fancy art exhibits more often.

"How do you even have room after dessert?" Evelynn sounded somewhere between awed and irritated.

"I have an extra pocket for free food," Akali said. 

"You're a millionaire."

"I'm a soundcloud rapper," Akali said around a stuffed mushroom.

Wiggling the wine glass, Akali gave her a hopeful smile. Unimpressed by the offering, Evelynn had half a mind to decline. Since she had no need to eat, she didn't enjoy wasting her time on subpar product. Then curiosity and a desire to please Akali had her bending down. Evelynn let Akali tip the wine glass to her lips, giving her a taste. It made her frown.

"That bad?" Akali asked. She gave the wine glass a critical look, squinting with one eye like she could spot the imperfections. "I've never been able to tell. It all tastes the same to me."

"No," Evelynn said, "It's actually very good. Too good for Cassiopeia to be wasting on a crowd." She refused to drink any further out of principle.

That was when Cass herself arrived, arms outstretched, palms up as if she could hold the whole gallery in them. "Darling, you made it! And you told me you had no interest in my side hustle."

"I just had to see what all the fuss was about." Her voice was always a low purr. But when Cass was near her vocal register went lower, almost against her will. A hard, firm buzz, like a tattoo gun. She couldn't help it. When in the presence of a strange predator she could never fully relax. "And I'm shooting something. Are you interested in having these featured in my next visual project?"

Far from offended, Cass smiled to see how Evelynn tensed around her. It was too wide a smile, too thin, and it did little to hide the way she herself coiled like a snake ready to strike. The open, airy gallery shrank in, oppressive and close. Evelynn set a hand on the pale white torso closest to her to balance herself in the sudden shift. Cold marble came alive under her touch, the ribs standing out, chest straining to breath in short, agonized huffs. 

The two of them didn't converse for a while, still struggling over nothing but eye contact until Cass finally eased up and smiled for real. The next time Evelynn blinked she couldn't scent blood in the air, hips weren't arching up to avoid pitted spikes penetrating the skin, hands didn't grasp flesh hard enough to dent and tear. 

It was only ever stone, after all.

"Is this that spitfire I've heard so much about?" Cass changed the subject while Evelynn was still off-kilter, pit-viper irises focusing and flexing on Akali.

Hyper aware of the fragile human standing next to her, Evelynn's lashers snapped between Akali's broadly planted feet like an arrow through the curve of a bow. Quickly clinging around her upper thighs and hugging her ankles, the leather squeezed once, warning Akali to stand still.

"Yes," Evelynn said, but offered nothing further. 

Hands deep in her front jean pockets, Akali didn't flinch when the lashers slithered up her chest, a flash of steel and leather constricting her throat. It had been years since Akali responded at all to Evelynn's possessive displays of affection; they might as well have been invisible to her like they were to most everyone else. 

Akali nodded to Cass. "Sup."

The conversation turned effortlessly to the sculptures, Akali wondering, "You made these?"

Like any good human companion Evelynn had ever had through the years, Akali knew by now that the worst thing to do with a testy monster was to show fear, anger, or present a threat. Deescalating Ahri was easy; managing to get Cass off-guard and talking about art again was impressive. 

"Well." After enough talk about casing and good marble and molds and carving, Cass pressed her fingertips together, too many teeth in her smile. "It's been lovely catching up, Lilith."

"Evelynn," she corrected her and Cass rolled her eyes. 

"Whatever."

Pulling out a business card, Evelynn scribbled out a number and offered it to Cass. "I'll have my set designer be in contact with you soon. We're more than happy to pay a fee to borrow these for our next set, and of course we'd pay in full if any of them were damaged during the shoot."

Cass licked her lips. "That's a shame. I thought you were interested in owning."

Evelynn took her time studying the sculptures again. Maybe waiting for them to sizzle back to life, to twist and strain for her amusement. She and Cass had similar tastes. 

"...I might keep one or two for myself," she decided after a while.

"Great!" Cass clapped her hands together gleefully. "I'll have one shipped over tonight. You write that check as soon as you can, hmmm? Don't worry about picking it out, I know your type, darling. It'll be custom made just for you."

Winking, she left them, each step letting out regular little swishes from her tight, snakeskin skirt. 

Once she was out of sight, every ounce of stress drained away, leaving Evelynn feeling slack. 

"Fucking hell." Evelynn snatched the next glass of wine she saw, downed it, and then two more in rapid succession. 

"You always take me to such nice places," Akali said, smarmier than usual, which Evelynn found deeply unfair. Pinching her cheek in retribution, Evelynn kept Akali close with hands and lashers both. They enjoyed the rest of the exhibit with no further incident. 

"You okay?" Akali asked once they were outside, walking back to her car.

Not entirely. Somehow she hadn't thought Cass would take this as a chance to have a dick-measuring contest. She had been caught completely off-guard, too worried about letting Akali see the worst of her to properly put Cass in her place. It stung her pride, made her feel weak. Even though it hadn't come to blows, it still rang like a loss.

"I'm fine." Evelynn reassured her, lasher brushing against Akali's outer thigh. The movement made her stumble, and she stopped, wobbling in her stilettos. 

Hmm. 

Kicking off her shoes, she slung them over one shoulder and ruined her stockings walking the rest of the way to the car. The moment she reached the driver's side she scraped her claws over the handle, distracted and moody. 

"Does the night have to end here?" she wondered. Again she scrabbled for the door handle and instead gouged four huge, rending tears, her claws screaming against raw steel.

Akali clapped her hands to her ears. All around them, anyone within hearing distance froze and immediately turned to them. Blinking at the red paint on her claws, Evelynn tried to figure out what was happening. 

"Ummm," Evelynn said, stumbling even without the heels now. "Maybe we should stay out a while longer."

Akali stared at her warily. "Baby, are you drunk?"

"No." Except the moment Akali said it, Evelynn knew she _was_ drunk, for the first time in many many years. There was something special about that wine Cass served after all. "...Yes. But this is fine."

"It's super not. You're not driving like this, give me the keys." Her lasher wobbled and snaked over, dropping the keys in Akali's waiting palm. She sighed in relief. "Okay, good. I'll call the others to come pick us up."

Evelynn's nose wrinkled up. "First off, we don't need to end the night here, as I said."

Abruptly, Evelynn announced, "I wanna walk to the pier," turned on her unsteady heel and started marching out in what she assumed was the correct direction. It took all of Akali's strength to pull her back towards the car. When it became clear Akali wasn't going to let her go anywhere, and that she really, _really_ , wanted to go home, Eve, _please_ , Eve said, "Well second off. You could drive."

Her small mouth parted in surprise— so pretty. Akali's ruddy, rough, unpolished lips, not a swipe of gloss or lipstick on her tonight, made Evelynn want to hook her mouth open and finger-fuck her until she gagged on her claws. 

"Really?" Akali asked.

"Mmm?" Distracted, Evelynn tore her gaze away from Akali's mouth. 

"You'd really let me drive your car." It sounded too suspicious to be a statement, but didn't have the uplift near the end to make it a question, either. "You've never let me so much as touch the radio in your cars, Eve."

Evelynn's eyebrows arched up. "I'm certain that's not true."

Akali let out a long, doubtful hum. "Not really. But it never bothered me!" she was quick to add when Evelynn started making distressed half-excuses. "Like you were never mean about it. I've never _needed_ to drive because it's one of those ways you like to take care of me."

It might be the wine under her skin, but Evelynn couldn't help but think of all the other things she refused to share with Akali. What they all had in common. Never giving up control, not even for something as simple as a trip to the beach.

She wasn't like Ahri. She didn't have the luxury of pretending she was normal, that she could let herself slip. Every day she woke up and harnessed the monster inside because she knew the consequences of losing control, and wasn't ready to face them. Not this century, at least.

"I never realized."

Smirking at her, Akali gently chucked Evelynn under the chin. "Don't sweat it. I think it's sweet. A little controlling, but sweet."

"I don't know how you can." Evelynn swayed, her palm snapping out to brace herself on the car frame again. "Can always make things sound so good. Even me, when I know I'm no good."

"Woof." Akali lost her smile, gently escorted Evelynn to the passenger seat, and strapped her in. "Talking about yourself like that? You really are acting weird."

The waiting killed her, and Evelynn tried not to be grumpy as she remembered why she hated it when other people took control. It took forever for Akali to set up the mirrors and adjust the chair to accomodate her tiny little legs, insisting that she knew how to drive every time Evelynn prompted her. It took _forever_ for Akali to sync up her phone with the car to get the map up, but instead it started blaring out what she'd been listening to.

"Ah, shit, sorry," Akali said. "How do I turn this off?"

"Leave it." 

From the first note she recognized the song; she'd only listened to it a few hundred times on repeat, herself. An acoustic guitar, stripped down and simple. Then more. Rising, sliding in like a silver knife. Synths in the background, softly rising again until it was impossible to ignore. She'd heard— and adored!— nearly every cover the fans made. But that critical moment came when Seraphine had to introduce the chorus. Muscle memory had Evelynn tensing to prepare for Kai'sa's distinct voice, high as a kite, sharper than claws shrieking on glass. 

But instead, when Seraphine said "down", Evelynn went [ _down_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Mf5aJzHl0).

Good music could send her into a frenzy when she was sober. Whatever the fuck Cass had spiked her drink with only intensified those feelings. The urge to run to the pier overtook her again even as Akali drove them home. Plunged into darkness, Evelynn sank into her seat and fantasized about a vast empty stretch of coast on a moonless night.

Behind her eyelids she saw white sand contrasting on black inky water. Crawling out of the ocean, all the shadows rose up to conceal her. In a place like that, she could sink into the darkness and never be seen again, hiding in places the sun had never touched, and never would touch until the planet burned up and the sun turned into a massive, swollen thing, aching and bursting and collapsing and taking everything with it in a fit of pique.

"Fuuuuuuck," Evelynn groaned, rubbing both palms over her face. "Her _range_."

Akali snorted. "Where was that enthusiasm when you heard her live? Poor kid thinks you hate her."

Was Evelynn imagining the relief in Akali's voice?

Claws tangled through her updo, freeing it as she scratched along her scalp for some relief. Even though she didn't want to leave her fantasy land under a sea of boiling darkness, Evelynn opened her eyes again just to glare out the window. "Well, I don't need to love her to work with her. Clearly she has talent, otherwise I wouldn't bother."

Uninvited, a single thought from Akali slid around her. 

_...can't she just be nice?_

Propping her elbow on the door, Evelynn rested her chin in her palm and stared out the window for the rest of the drive. Lights flashed by, making her flinch every time until she finally gave up and closed her eyes again. 

It felt like only two seconds passed before a warm hand caressed her face. "Hey, wake up. We're home."

In the private garage of their rented penthouse, Evelynn dared to relax more. It was safe in there, cavelike and dark and protected. 

"Don't tell me you need me to carry you up." Akali teased her, and Evelynn tugged the human onto her lap with both lashers. It was quick and easy and Akali didn't even have time to react.

Digging her claws in, Evelynn held onto Akali's hips. "Who says we need to go up?"

A warning note entered Akali's voice. "I'm not in the mood tonight. Not when you're not thinking straight."

An unexpected spark struck. It felt so sweetly condescending, a human _worried_ about taking advantage of Evelynn. Her centuries old mass-murderous demon lover. It was also infuriating. As earlier, with Cass, Evelynn wondered if tonight she was wearing a sign on her forehead that said " _FRAGILE"._

She really couldn't help but sneer, "What a gentleman."

"Hey, don't fucking cop an attitude just because I care about you for more than sex, Eve."

"Shhh. Shush your dirty mouth." Evelynn brought her down for a kiss, a curve of leather pushing Akali's head closer. "Shh, shh, shh. We don't have to do anything. I only want to hold you."

Lashers laced up around Akali, tingles sweeping up over Evelynn's body every time they squeezed over bare skin. She let out a long, low moan of contentment, holding her tight in a leather cocoon. 

"I'm gonna cuddle the fuck out of you," Evelynn said, and was rewarded with a soft laugh from Akali, their spat quickly finished.

Then Evelynn said, "Do you think Ahri would be jealous if we got married?"

Unlike her lashers, the claws latched to her knuckles were nothing but cold steel. They were a reminder of what she used to have. Being in her human shape meant giving up a lot of the things she took for granted, and there was only so far she could push her teeth and her eyes before people started talking. Thankfully the lashers remained, hidden within dresses and disguised as accessories. 

She couldn't feel the warmth of Akali's body through the claws she kept out of nostalgia, a little nod to her former life. That didn't stop her from running the tips down Akali's spine, over and over again. The urge to touch her, to mark her somehow, to claim her, it was so overwhelming she even started rubbing their faces together. If she had scent glands on her cheeks like a cat she'd squirm all over Akali every fucking day. 

Head pressed to Akali's chest, she listened to the hollow thunderstorm inside, the futile beating wings of some trapped beast.

Akali let out a long, shuddering breath.

"Y-yes," Akali said.

Evelynn pulled back, blinking blearily at her. "Hmm? Yes what?"

"Ahri." Akali closed her eyes tight when Evelynn nuzzled higher, licking a wet stripe up her twitching throat. "She'd get jealous, I think."

"Oh." She had almost completely forgotten what she'd asked at this point. Evelynn rubbed her thumb underneath Akali's eye where her eyeliner had smudged. "That's too bad."

Sitting back, Akali started peeling the lashers off her. She cleared her throat, forcing it to go a little deeper and serious than her usual cotton-candy cadence. "Let's talk it out tomorrow if you're really serious about that, okay?"

"Okay." The world spun for a second as Akali led her upstairs. She held onto Evelynn's lasher like a hand, because Evelynn wanted to touch her some more but her arms were _so_ heavy. Those claws were as unwieldy as armor, all of a sudden, and then they were home and Seraphine was there.

Somehow it had slipped her mind entirely that Seraphine was spending the night. 

_What is it about this human that has everyone tripping over themselves?_ Evelynn's thoughts turned poisonous, especially when she couldn't figure out why Seraphine was draped in miles of white glittery fabric.

Akali stopped dead in the kitchen. "What the hell are you three wearing?"

"Kigus!" Kai'sa said, spinning into view with a flair. She dropped into her signature pose, pulling her hood up to display a pair of panda ears. "What do you think, girls?"

Evelynn heard Akali think, _well they DID say it was a pajama party._

"How old are you again?" Evelynn asked, annoyed, as Ahri bounced over to show off the flaps under the arms of her costume and demanded a compliment for her flying squirrel pajamas.

"Not a fox?" Akali asked, amused. 

Ahri sniffed, pretending to be offended. "Stereotyping." 

Ahri smothered her in a big hug. No kisses though— they had decided to put a ban on the PDA while Seraphine was around. Even if she was a friendly face to the others, that didn't mean she needed to be privy to the intricacies of their polycule. Then Ahri's ears flickered, twitching underneath her hood as she looked at Evelynn. "You feeling okay? Akali texted us. Cassiopeia didn't hurt you, did she?"

"No." Tender, soft hands. Cool against her warm flesh. Evelynn felt a vibration roll down her lashers when Ahri checked her temperature. "I'm just glad whatever this is, it can't target h—"

Ahri's eyes flashed in warning, sensing what she was about to say. The four of them finally had to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Or the unicorn in the room. Seraphine was plugged into her laptop, horned, hooded head bobbing enthusiastically to whatever she was working on. It looked like she didn't even realize she wasn't alone, headphones thumping abysmally loud.

So Evelynn finished, "Can't target humans. Akali didn't even get buzzed. Which was a real drag, because I wanted to go to the pier and she wouldn't let me. What are you all doing?"

"What does it look like?" Kai'sa said. "Drinking too much and making music."

"Seraphine is... also compromised," Ahri noted with some amusement. "She tried to keep up with Kai'sa shot for shot."

Akali's eyes widened. "Oh, Sera. Noooo. Sera, that's so dumb! Kai'sa is twice her size!"

Too distracted by the sight of Seraphine at their kitchen table, it took Evelynn a moment to react to what the others were saying. "Music? We don't make music!" she said, a little too loudly.

"Oh?" Kai'sa said. "What do we do then, babe?"

Evelynn hooked an arm around her much shorter girlfriend to stay steady. Akali bore her with the same patience you give to a wounded soldier, trying to help her hobble away. "We make... _statements_."

"Oh my god," Ahri said under her breath.

"In her defense, that sounds like something she'd say sober."

Ignoring Kai'sa, Ahri went to help Akali steer Evelynn towards the stairs. "Come on, Evie. Let's get you to bed so you can sleep this off."

"I still wanna go to the pier," Evelynn muttered again, kicking up enough fuss that they wound up planting her next to Seraphine at the table and called it the inebriation station. The other three poured water down her throat since they were forcing Seraphine to hydrate, too. They admitted none of them knew what the protocol was for an intoxicated demon. 

"What should we do? I've never seen Eve like this," Evelynn overheard Akali ask, tinged with worry.

"I still think she should just sleep it off." Ahri, grounded, calm, in charge.

"Yeah, but we can't get her into bed..." Kai'sa's musing got cut off when she shouted first in Afrikaans and then in Korean, "Hey. _Hey!_ Knock it off!"

They all looked at where she was pointing. At Evelynn, who was sitting politely next to the drunkenly focused Seraphine with her hands on her own lap. Her lashers were not so polite, twisting around Seraphine curiously, one wrapped around her throat and giving it a testing squeeze.

"What?" Evelynn said breezily. "She can't see them. And she obviously can't even feel them. Look at her."

"That's not why—" Akali made a frustrated noise, striding over and whacking her lasher. "Keep your nasty little tentacles to yourself."

Evelynn whipped one pointed, tapered tip up between Akali's eyes. "Lashers."

"Whatever."

Then because she was tired of this argument, Evelynn unplugged Seraphine's headphones. A surprisingly aggressive beat poured out, [utterly dance-friendly and cooler than Seraphine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw4eIjpXXMQ) herself, and Seraphine whined for a second that her flow was interrupted until she saw who was holding the cord.

"Oh! Hi Eve!" Seraphine said with a bright smile, despite the fact that Evelynn never recalled giving her permission to use that nickname. "Did you and Akali have a good time?"

Leaning in with her chin in her hands, Evelynn ignored the way the others were staring daggers at her for cutting the conversation short. "We always do, darling. What's this you're working on?"

"Just something for fun," Seraphine said, showing her the laptop. "Yasuo and Kai'sa and I have been sending this track back and forth and messing with it. I also made musubi for everyone."

"Oh, for real? I want some," Akali said, prompting Evelynn to give her the flattest look imaginable. 

_What?_ Akali mouthed.

Evelynn's lashers lifted up, wiggling in the air. _You already ate!_

"I'll get it for you," Kai'sa said, then made an I'm-watching-you gesture at Evelynn. "You all keep an eye on this one so she doesn't get into any more trouble."

"I'm not the one you have to worry about," she said, bringing forth to mind all the nights she'd spent fucking Ahri just to take some of the tension off. Twisting in her chair, Evelynn decided to reclaim some of the power she'd lost tonight. And if there was anyone she could reliably bend into submission, it was sweet little Ahri. She forced eye contact, daring her, goading her to react. "I'm not the one who has a history of losing control."

Ahri bristled, three more tails bursting forth and standing erect. They trembled, swelling until Ahri seemed twice her size. "Evelynn." Her voice was a sharp warning.

"Oh, don't get so defensive. I think it's cute... and I understand. Really." Relaxing next to Seraphine, Evelynn drew her closer with an arm around her shoulders. She murmured, petting her over her head, and chuckling at how it made Seraphine brighten, and how it made Ahri's glare darken even more. "I could go for a bite, myself."

She didn't need to read her mind to know that Seraphine was hungry for praise— and praise from her specifically. So she indulged her because she was bored and because she was curious, prodding and prying at this person who so effortlessly seemed to have enchanted everyone around her.

Yasuo, too, evidently. It wasn't like him to let anyone else mess with his works in progress. 

"I'm going to bed," Ahri said, tensely walking off. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight!" Seraphine said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

Unbothered, Evelynn drank the rest of her water while Akali and Kai'sa had a whispered conversation. Akali went upstairs to follow Ahri while Kai'sa played the role of dubious chaperone. They kept up their conversation, slowly sobering up as the hours passed on. 

"I promise I normally don't do this," Seraphine whined, stretching her torso out on the table. The sleeves on her kigu pulled back, revealing her slender wrists. Drunk and starting to get hungry, Evelynn let herself mentally trace the mapwork of powder-blue veins underneath. They pulsed, delicious and delicate and a little obscene. "Like getting stupid trashed. That's not me."

"It's not normally me either," Evelynn reassured her. "That's why they quarantined us off in the inebriation station."

Seraphine's laugh was like a little bell. Evelynn wasn't sure she'd ever heard her laugh before. Maybe Seraphine didn't have much of a reason to laugh when Evelynn was around.

"I always have to keep it locked up. You know?" Seraphine rubbed her face. "I try so hard to be normal."

"That's a tragedy." Evelynn sympathized even if she didn't entirely understand. "That you feel the need to bury yourself."

Seraphine turned her head so that her cheek rested on the table, looking up at Evelynn. "You don't?"

"No." 

That was all she said. The question didn't merit a more elaborate answer. 

She forced herself to look into Seraphine's eyes, dragging her stare away from how her veins looked in the lamplight. Was it only physical attraction, then, that drew everyone to their Seraphine, this rising star? Evelynn could understand that. But she was surrounded by some of the most beautiful women in the world every day; compared to the others, Seraphine barely passed the mark.

"Well I do," Seraphine said. "I'm tired of being alone."

Irritation rolled over her in a wave. She'd heard similar mindsets in the past, and it never failed to disgust her. "You don't have to choose between being yourself and being alone. Whoever told you otherwise wanted to squeeze your power from you." Evelynn made a fist to demonstrate. "It's very easy to manipulate isolated people."

Again that strange expression. "So then why do you do it?"

"I already told you I don't. You think this charming personality of mine ever gets censored?" Evelynn laughed, harshly. "I'd have a lot more friends if that were the case. But maybe it's better like that."

_Better to be alone than to be with people who will never understand you. Or never even try._

Seraphine flinched, sitting up straight and turning away from Evelynn. 

"Eve," she said after a long while. "Are you... like me?"

"What, a lesbian?" Evelynn wondered, and Seraphine went white as a sheet. Then blazing, streetlight red. She tugged her kigu hood down.

Hiding most of her expression that way, Seraphine became truly unreadable, and Evelynn hated it. Her hands were still too heavy to move so she used her lashers to push Seraphine's hood back, and then swept that mop of hair out of her face, combing it back over and over. Thick pink strands kept falling forward, ungovernable and out of control, but Evelynn wanted to know what she was thinking, and she was so irritated that she couldn't even scent it in the air.

When Evelynn spoke again, it was in a deep, furious growl. "Stop. Hiding." 

"I will if you will. Are you doing that on purpose?" Seraphine whispered, looking into her eyes for the first time, _really_ looking. "Are you like me?"

That was all the warning she got before Seraphine finally let her inside.

In a rush of waves and buffeting wind, Evelynn was wrenched into those eyes, grander and wider than a cathedral. 

It was another fantasy, and she was on the beach again, but not at night this time. This time it was a cloudless, scorching summer day. Zenith-high and burning directly on her, the relentless light allowed no shadows to hide in, not even one cast by herself. 

Evelynn was naked, completely and devastatingly so. The ocean waves did nothing to conceal her, only ever deep as her ankles, and frantic she splashed about in those vast unending shallows, desperately hunting for a place to hide, for any friendly spot of darkness or shadow at all.

In Seraphine's eyes, she was stripped utterly bare. She was seen. She was seeing her, all of her. _All_ of her. 

"Evelynn?"

The next time Seraphine blinked, Evelynn was released.

Stumbling back, Evelynn's heart plummeted, a realization hitting her cold and hard and sudden.

It was never that Evelynn couldn't read Seraphine's thoughts because there was nothing to read.

She couldn't read Seraphine's mind because Seraphine was _[actively keeping her out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGgI2amBLjo)._

* * *

_"Because the sunset, like survival, exists only on the verge of its own disappearing. To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted."_

— Ocean Vuong

**Author's Note:**

> CLAP IF YOU LOVE GAYS ON THEIR WORST BEHAVIOR
> 
> no but seriously please leave a comment I'm insecure about this fic


End file.
